美国国家公共电台 NPR--Israel agrees to pay family of a Palestinian American who died after being detained

Israel agrees to pay family of a Palestinian American who died after being detained

Transcript¹

In a rare move, Israel says it will pay about $141,000 to the family of a Palestinian American man who died of a heart attack while in Israeli custody², a case that concerned the Biden administration.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some other news now. Israel has agreed to pay the family of an elderly Palestinian American man who died in Israeli custody. This is a rare move by Israel, and it's not clear the family will accept. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE³: Seventy-eight-year-old Omar As'ad was driving in his village this January when Israeli soldiers stopped him. The army says he wouldn't cooperate with an inspection⁴, and so soldiers handcuffed, blindfolded⁵ and briefly⁶ gagged him. The army says soldiers thought he was asleep when they left him about half an hour later. Palestinian doctors found he died of a heart attack - their autopsy⁷ claimed came from mental stress. The army demoted two officers, and chief of staff Aviv Kochavi gave a speech.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AVIV KOCHAVI: (Through interpreter) The way they left the person in the field is severe and unethical.

ESTRIN: The victim's family sued. Israel's defense⁹ ministry¹⁰ says the family agreed to drop the lawsuit¹¹ and accept the equivalent of about $141,000. The family's lawyer won't comment, saying the case is sensitive. The victim's brother, Nawaff As'ad, says the family has not accepted Israel's offer and wants to see soldiers on trial.

NAWAFF AS'AD: We don't have no interest to accept any offer at this moment, no matter what the amount is, till we find justice for my brother.

ESTRIN: It's very rare for Israel to pay Palestinians compensation or damages. Israeli law exempts¹² the army from liability when Palestinians are harmed in what's considered warfare¹³ activity. Ziv Stahl of Israeli human rights group Yesh Din⁸ thinks Israel agreed to pay because the victim was a U.S. citizen but doubts there will be real change.

ZIV STAHL: It was a good chance to actually look at the policy of randomly¹⁴ stopping a person in the middle of the night, tying him and his eyes, not checking to see if he's fine. My hopes will that maybe this will open a door for the army to actually look into the policy. But it never happened, and I'm sure it won't.

ESTRIN: After his death, the State Department said it wanted a thorough criminal investigation¹⁵. The army concluded its criminal investigation in August but has not yet decided¹⁶ whether to indict¹⁷ any officers. Israel did admit responsibility for the cardiac arrest of this 78-year-old man but not for the death of 7-year-old Palestinian Rayan Suleiman. Last month, soldiers showed up at his doorstep, accusing his brothers of throwing stones. Palestinian health officials say the little boy also died of cardiac arrest - also, they say, out of fear.

Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 blindfolded   

v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗

参考例句：

• The hostages were tied up and blindfolded. 人质被捆绑起来并蒙上了眼睛。
• They were each blindfolded with big red handkerchiefs. 他们每个人的眼睛都被一块红色大手巾蒙住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

7 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

8 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

12 exempts   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This privilege, however, exempts only predecisional documents. 然而，此特权只免除那些文件在作出决定之前的披露责任。
• Function effectiveness: After then special-purpose, exempts the flushing formula. 功能效用：便后专用，免冲洗配方。

13 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

14 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。